Prince George christening: portrait that shows the future of the monarchy

The Queen and the next three kings pictured together for the first time

Prince George pictured with (left to right) The Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Queen, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry, Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton, James Middleton, Duke of Cambridge, Carole and Michael MiddletonPhoto: JASON BELL/CAMERA PRESS

This is one of the official portraits of Prince George and his family taken in the Morning Room at Clarence House following his christening on Wednesday.

They were taken by Jason Bell, 44, whose pictures in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery caught the eye of the Duchess of Cambridge, who is the gallery’s Patron.

One picture in particular sums up the continuity which is the monarchy’s greatest strength. It shows the Queen posing with the next three kings of Britain and the Commonwealth realms, the first such photograph for 114 years.

The last similar occasion was in 1899, when an 80-year-old Queen Victoria posed with her direct successors Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII.

This time, the Queen, who is 87, is pictured with her son the Prince of Wales, 64, grandson the Duke of Cambridge, 31, and three-month-old great-grandson Prince George.

Jason Bell/Camera Press

The youngest member of the Royal family may have to wait 60 years or more before his turn to be king finally comes around, and on that day Mr Bell’s photographs will, no doubt, be aired once again.

In a more intimate portrait of the baby with his parents, Prince George, whose face had been inscrutable throughout his baptism at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, looks rather more animated, with his arms held apart and his mouth wide open.

A third photograph shows baby, mother and father with the five senior members of the Royal family who attended the service. While the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Harry and his parents are looking at the camera, the Queen, sitting next to the Duchess of Cambridge, looks lovingly at her great-grandson.

Kensington Palace also released this larger group photograph, with the Duchess’s parents Michael and Carole Middleton and her siblings Pippa and James joining the Royal family.

James Middleton could almost be mistaken for a member of the Windsor family, his newly-grown beard giving him a look of George V.

Although the photographs are formal in the way they are posed, the setting is far more intimate than the grand State rooms of Buckingham Palace where other royal portraits have been shot in the past.

On a sideboard to the left of the christening party are framed snapshots of the Prince of Wales with Prince Harry, and of Prince Harry as a toddler, together with a bronze bust of the Queen when she was seven.

And while those in the room represent the monarchy’s future, the paintings on the wall are a reminder of the family’s past, including a painting of George V talking to his racing manager at Aintree racecourse by Walter Sickert.

Other pictures in view include a portrait of George Bernard Shaw by Augustus John.